Metropolis Rho is a fully developed adventure and location sourcebook for the post-apocalyptic role-playing game, Darwin's World 2nd Edition. It intended to introduce players to the setting of Darwin's World in a unique new way.

Metropolis Rho is designed specifically to give gamemasters an idea of the potential of even the most sketchy community descriptions presented in the Darwin's World rules. At its most basic, the sprawling city depicted in this campaign setting is really just a Degenerate community (one of the examples given in the rulebook is, in fact, based on this very city), but by fleshing it out the idea seed quickly turns into a truly dynamic environment in which to adventure.

Metropolis Rho goes far beyond a the simple definition of a Degenerate society; herein it becomes a real, l iving city and campaign setting, a launching point for future adventures in the radiated wasteland of the Twisted Earth.

The complete series of adventures should take characters from 1st to 8th level.

Humanity In A Bottle Introduction

In the 23rd century the world is a devastated ruin of rubble and radiation.

200 years ago mankind all but destroyed itself in a fiery conflagration that wiped the great cities and monuments of the human race completely from the face of the earth. Gone are the great cities, the super highways, and the industry that propelled humanity to its greatness - and ultimate fall.

The world is a desolate wasteland.

In this dark future only one last enclave of life remains, the ruins of a once-great domed city sitting in the middle of the wastes. One of many domed cities constructed during the time of the Ancients to house the world's ever-increasing population, it is a true metropolis. Here the last holdouts of the human race cling to survival within the boundaries of the city, protected from the mindless mutated creatures that are said to dwell beyond the walls by the "Barrier", a great killing zone erected long ago by the ancestors of your people to keep the city isolated from the rest of the world. As the last remnants of humanity died out, the Barrier's minefields, automated turrets, and other devious traps kept desperate killers and mutants from destroying what your ancestors had so carefully preserved:

Civilization. The seed of humanity.

Though the automated defenses of the Barrier have been idle for generations, and all life has long been extinct in the wasteland, for over 200 years the last survivors of the human race have continued to thrive inside the metropolis. But times have changed. The long expanse of years and their isolation have left a marked change in your people. Things have begun to wind down.

Today the city boasts a population of ten thousand or more, but most of the city still remains empty, left to wither and rust in the ages since the Fall. The great skyscrapers of the cityscape are no longer fully protected by the great dome; the vast casing that kept your ancestors safe from radiation has decayed and fallen apart in many places, leaving only a broken patchwork shell that rises over all as a reminder of how great the Ancients were.

The city continues on, but all culture has broken down. The ancient gangs that once hid from the law of the city now rule. From the ranks of the great gangs a Mayor rises every few years to lead the city, his will enforced by a special organization that claims to be descended from the original police force of the Metropolis, an organization known as the "Enforcers". Drugs, random killings, and gang warfare are all sanctioned forms of industry, commerce, and politics. Crime is a term only used when property is damaged or stolen - resources are thin in the city, and nothing broken can ever be replaced.

One thing that can never be replaced is the genetic legacy of the city's inhabitants. Inbreeding has become a problem in the last few decades, and the city government has instituted strict policies concerning mutant births - euthanasia of infants showing any sign of defect, and "destruction" of those mutants who somehow evade the law and thrive unseen in the so-called "mutant underground".

You are Enforcers. Claiming to be descended from the original metropolitan police, your role in the city has evolved over time, in sync with the changing nature of Metropolis civilization. No longer protectors of the innocent, the Enforcers are a powerful fraternity of mercenaries with only vague ties to the heroic lawmen of the past. Your brotherhood has an official charter that places it outside of the political system - with special privileges that hold you high above the rest of the filth. Pledging loyalty only to whichever Mayor is currently in power, the Enforcers' sole goal is to do the Mayor's work. Since the Mayor must maintain a semblance of peace and stability to avoid civil unrest, this sometimes involves keeping the peace, breaking up gang battles in the streets, and even solving crimes.

But more often than not it merely involves putting the Mayor's enemies out of commission...